About Society Inside

Hilary has spent 35 years trying to help companies and governments put the public interest before the interests of profit!

She spent the first 10 years of her career in mainstream communications in London and New York, promoting dog food, washing powder and food products. In 1996, a dissatisfaction with the ethics of this work, led her to apply to be Head of Communications for The Tomorrow’s Company Inquiry at the Royal Society of Arts, which focused on changing the shareholder value model of business to one which takes social and environmental issues seriously, alongside the economic.

This inspirational project was the catalyst for her next 20 years work promoting the issues of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which evolved to be known as ‘Responsible Research and Innovation’ and ‘Environmental and social governance (ESG) in a variety of sectors. Her focus gradually shifted from mainstream sectors to innovation in new and emerging technologies such as AI, data and digital responsibility, neurotechnologies, synthetic biology & gene editing, industrial biotech, nanotech and advanced materials, quantum tech, robotics, food irradiation, high-tech food innovation and vapes.

In 2017, motivated by her and others’ singular lack of success in persuading the business community to take its responsibilities to society seriously, she shifted focus to changing the balance of power in policy and regulation from a business centric model to one which puts trust and the public interest ahead of corporate interests and empowers and involves citizens directly in regulation and policy.

In 2023 she initiated and co-leads the Addiction Economy project which aims to understand what political and social systems are failing when harmful industries flourish, and what it then takes to put the public interest first in policy and regulation. This initiative brings together her skill in synthesising complex issues, a relentless focus on the public interest, and her strong communications skills honed in the commercial consumer sector.

Her unusual cross-sectoral perspective has lead to opportunities to work with some of the most innovative thinkers in these diverse areas, including the World Economic Forum, presenting at the Annual Meeting at Davos, the UN, the OECD, the European Commission, European Brain Council, the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia, the AI Asia Pacific Institute and the UK Royal Society. She was co-chair of the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Values, Ethics & Innovation, a member of its Agile Governance Council, its Human Rights Council and its Nanotechnology Global Agenda Council. She is also on the advisory board of the Carnegie Council on AI and Equality, a member of the Cambridge Centre for Science Policy Network of Experts and involved in various government and academic working groups and advisory boards. In 2010 she was asked by the European Commission to write a primer for Responsible Research and Innovation as a basis of understanding for the development of their Horizon research programme. She was named was one of the ‘100 brilliant women in AI Ethics’ in 2019 and 2021 by the California-based LightHouse Network.